Oil stood at $78.03 a barrel in mid-day trading in Europe as investors took time to study recent corporate earnings and other indicators to gauge short-term demand.
“We see a downward pressure on oil. The corporate earnings results so far have not really indicated much revenue growth and that points to continued weakness in the U.S. economy,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Associated Press